is it a bad idea for me to stop calorie counting?

emberlynn16

i starting to edge towards the idea of not counting calories and rather just just focus on portion sizes and eating healthy. I know the amount of calories in almost everything and I know how portion sizes work. Also I tend to become obsessive when it comes to counting calories. Like almost everyone I occasionally go to social gatherings and restaurants and counting calories in these situations is sometimes impossible. I find myself stressing out about these sort of events due to the fact i wont be able to count calories. i feel like it would be best for my mental health to stop but im worried ill end up eating too little or too much without calorie counting. any advice?

jjpptt2

Not necessarily. You have to manage cals in vs cals out somehow, but it doesn't have to necessarily be through calorie counting. If you can make portion control and intuitive eating work for you, that's great!

alealehandraa

It doesn't matter that much if you're active and eating healthy stuff. i don't pay attention that much because i know all the things i ate are good and healthy

middlehaitch

If you are aware of portion sizes and are reasonably good at sticking to them, give it a go.

If you find it isn't working you can always start counting again.

You may have to weigh daily and track in a trending app to make sure you are keeping in a deficit.

If you use a kitchen scale, you could weigh your most frequent foods and your portion size and take pics for reference.
You could also just weigh your high cal food and use a cheat sheet with portion and cals on.

Try it for a few weeks and see how you go.
Calorie counting is a good tool, but if it causes too much stress it may be better to find an alternate.

I have been maintaining for years just eyeballing portions and weighing to reestablish them occasionally.

Cheers, h.

kommodevaran

You just have to eat enough, but not too much, you don't have to count calories. You know the amount of calories in almost everything and how portion sizes work - does this mean that you know how reasonable portions of most foods looks like (adjusted for number of foods and meals you eat per day), and that you can easily stick to that? You don't have to do more than that. If you want reassurance, keep weighing yourself. If/when your weight trend starts to slide, make adjustments.

toxikon

You don't have to calorie count, but I do recommend monitoring your weight. Daily or weekly weigh-ins will help stop weight-creep early so you can make necessary adjustments.

MegaMooseEsq

You can totally stop if it's stressing you out! If you're worried about eating too much or too little, you can use a scale, a tape measure, or a favorite pair of pants to keep track of your weight. Good luck!

JosieMay100

I am actually going to stop calorie counting and weighing myself. Just because its got too much for me, its affecting my mood stressing about every little calorie. Im goig to eat wholesome foods on sensible portion sizes and exercise and see how this goes for a while.

Hopefully good things will still happen and if not maybe il go back to calorie countig but I know for now i need a break.

paperpudding

Option 1 - keep doing all calorie counting

Option 2 - stop all calorie counting, just go by portion sizes and food choices

There is also Option 3 - somewhere in between. Do what i call the lazy version - weigh high calorie foods but estimate others from past experience or averages, estimate when eating out, assume every banana, apple etc is same calories (if they aproximately are same size) take bar codes as being correct without weighing etc.

That way you are keeping half an eye on calories without stressing about being too strict or too accurate.

and as with any method, weigh regularly to keep track of whether it is working and adjust accordingly if not.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

I feel like, if you care about your weight (which is NOT critical for everyone), then you have to keep weighing yourself. My example was that my blood pressure started creeping up as I got older. My choice was to lose weight or go on blood pressure medication, so I placed more emphasis on weight control.

For me, weight control means counting calories. The moment I stop, I start to gain. But, it doesn't really bother me to do it, so I do. I also do fairly intense workouts several times a week and I must eat extra calories to compensate for them without overcompensating, so again, calorie counting really helps.

Many people have told me that they can control their weight by other means, primarily either low carb or simply by "clean eating." Here's a recent article that extolls a non-calorie-counting approach.

https://nyti.ms/2D3xzJe

(I have to say that, reading the article, I see that the author still pays very close attention to portions and exercise, so maybe she all BUT counts calories. Still, to each their own!)

Lesscookies12

I've lost almost 50 pounds, and I haven't calorie counted at all, and I even go to restaurants :O I more or less use the scale as an indicator for how I did the day before keeps me accountable. I think if you feel stressed about calorie counting maybe do away with it see how you feel after a week, and decide if this is something you want to continue not doing. Good luck!!

PAV8888

You can not count calories and keep an eye on your weight and adjust based over your multi-week trend.

Or you can count calories if you know approximately what works for you and avoid measuring your weight if that stresses you out.

Depending on your propensity to either gain or lose weight or stay stable switching from doing both to doing neither has some obvious dangers.

Look there's many reasons why people gravitate to mfp.

So the classic case described below may or may not apply to you.

But If one of the reasons you found mfp is a propensity to overeat, for whatever reason, I find it extremely likely that you will have to exercise some form of mindfulness over that propensity, or accept the potential for weight creep over time.

leejoyce31

I will always have to count calories. Some weeks I really overindulge, and I log it all because I need to know how to course correct from those indulgences and stay within my maintenance calorie/weight range over a 30 day period. I am thankful for MFP. However, many people just eyeball. Do what works for you and causes you the least amount of stress. Good luck!

HoneyBadger302

I take breaks from counting calories, but I don't give it up completely as I need to keep myself honest about portion sizes and what I'm actually consuming so I avoid letting too many calories "sneak" in.

I typically don't count them on weekends, and decided to not count them during my "deload" training week. Hasn't hurt my weight loss one bit, but I try to stay honest and count/weigh/track everything M-F the other weeks.